미국의 영재교육과정에 대한 고찰

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to review the curriculum of gifted education in the United States and to provide some implications for the development of gifted education in Korea. Major concerns of this study are as follows: 1) historical background of gifted education development, 2) policy and institution of the curriculum for gifted education, 3) instructional strategies and models for gifted education, 4) documentation system of the curriculum for gifted education, 5) goals and objectives of the curriculum, 6) program structure and management of the curriculum, 7) evaluation of the curriculum, 8) relationships between the curriculum for gifted education and the curriculum for regular school, and 9) examples of the curriculum framework. The findings and conclusions can be summarized as follows. First, gifted education in the United States has been started almost hundred years ago at Johns Hopkins University and Harvard University. Second, the Education Act for the gifted was institutionalized in 1988. Later on, it was revised and announced in 1994 such as Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act. In this act, general guidelines for the implementation of gifted education are included. For instance, included is the support system by the state government for the policy and institution of the gifted education. Third, various strategies and models for gifted education are identified, such as Renzulli's Triad Enrichment Model, Guilfords 'Structure of Intelligence Model', 'Multiple Menu Model' and so on. In addition, the acceleration model and enrichment model are applied as well. Fourth, documentation of the curriculum of gifted education includes at least 14 categories such as an overview, the definition of giftedness in related subject area, goals and objectives of gifted education, principles of organizing the sequence and scope of the curriculum, teaching-learning methods, the evaluation criteria for learning outcomes, and so on. Fifth, major goals of gifted education are the enhancement of creative thinking ability, reading and writing capability, active learning skills, interdisciplinary study skills, independent inquiry skills, and evaluation skills for new idea. Sixth, the program of gifted education cover from 5 to 17 years old of the gifted. In addition, the program is differentiated according to the ability level and grade level. Seventh, the evaluation of the program is conducted according to the relevance and efficiency of the curriculum for achieving the goals of gifted education. Finally, all the gifted are generally required to master the regular curriculum of the regular school. Simultaneously, the gifted have the opportunity to attend the special program such as a research project, a seminar, a workshop, a special class in order for them to enhance their potentiality. Clearly, this study showed that the characteristics and strengths of the curriculum for the gifted in the United States are open, autonomous, flexible, various, and systematic.